Running head: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 1

Gender Differences in Online Graduate Programs: An Investigation of Engagement and

Achievement via Community of Inquiry Framework and Mixed-Methods Perspective

Michael Bui

Jason Chen

Simone Dharmaratne

Sabrina Holat

The University of British Columbia

ETEC 500
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Abstract

This study will investigate gender differences in engagement and achievement in online Masters

and Doctorate Programs at a large Canadian University. Gender differences in level of

engagement between male and female participants will be explored using cognitive presence

from the Community of Inquire Framework (CoI) and level of achievement will be explored

using final percentage score on thesis/dissertation of male and female graduate students. This

study will involve mixed-methods data collection. Specifically, pre, during, and post reflection

data will be collected and be qualitative in nature; while measures from the adopted Community

of Inquiry Framework (CoI), demographic indicators, and final marks will be quantitative in

nature. Data will include, questionnaire responses, pre, during, and post participation reflections,

and demographic indicators. Conclusions will focus on gender differences in engagement and

achievement. Additionally, conclusions will focus on gender differences in level of engagement.

The CoI perspective will be utilized to gather some of the data.

Keywords: gender differences, Community of Inquiry Framework (CoI), student engagement

 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 3

Gender Differences in Online Graduate Programs: An Investigation of Engagement and

Achievement via Community of Inquiry Framework and Mixed-Methods Perspective

Objectives or purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to examine and describe gender differences in online

graduate level research courses for Masters Doctorate level programs. The objective is to find

out if there are gender differences in; 1) the level of engagement between male and female

participants, measured by using the key element, cognitive presence from the Community of

Inquiry Framework (CoI) and 2) the level of achievement, measured by the final percentage

score awarded at the end of the course and via personal journals from male and female graduate

students (Ice, Arbaugh, Diaz, Garrison, Richardson, Shea, & Swan, 2007).

Perspectives and theoretical framework

The accessibility and increased availability of online based education has been fuelled by

a demand from adults looking to pursue higher level education because the flexibility allows

them to balance their life responsibilities with their learning (Park & Choi, 2009). Isik, Karakis

and Guler (2010), identified that students found it much more convenient and noted from their

survey results that students found Web Based Distance Learning more comfortable but felt

boredom was a barrier to engagement. Coupled with Park and Chois (2009) research that found

there were very high dropout rates for online adult education, there appears to be a need to

pursue more research in this area. This research proposal aims to identify specific differences, if

any, exist between men and women in an online space and its impact on performance and

engagement in a graduate level research course. Akyol and Garrison (2011) identified that we

need to look at self-reporting by students to measure the success of online education. In a

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Masters level course on research methodology, one would need to look at more than just the

grade percentage received. Within this relatively new academic space, Chyung (2007) identified

how post-secondary institutions needed to examine how gender roles have an effect on student

academic performance. It is not sufficient to solely rely on the grade received or a test instrument

to measure academic success.

There has been some conflicting research about whether the greater strain women face in

pursuing continued education affects their performance in online education in comparison to

men. The medium of online education provides women in different areas with the ability to

continue their studies from home and balance their numerous other responsibilities (Arric, Yung,

Harris, & Farrow, 2011). Arric et al. (2011) further identified that though anonymity and

flexibility make online education viable for women, they face many more challenges in

balancing responsibilities and expectations in their academic success than men. This benefit of

anonymity is further corroborated by Isik et als (2010) study that determined women do better

online because they are more freely able to voice their opinions and Chyung (2007) noted that

women in an online course doing a Masters Degree scored significantly higher than men on

final exams. Cuadrado-Garcia, Ruiz-Molina and Montoro-Pons (2010) noted that women tend

to participate more, leading to higher achievement. This helps explain why Gonzalez-Gomez,

Guardiola, Martin Rodriguez, and Montero Alonso (2012) found women to be more satisfied

with their online learning than men.

This is in slight contrast to Park and Choi (2009) who did not find that gender had any

significant statistical differences on whether a student was likely to complete an online course

successfully. Zembylas (2008) pointed out that men in the study noted in their journals in the

qualitative study that it was because of the women in their lives that they had time to dedicate to
 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 5

studying online. There appears to be different stressors, responsibilities, and support that

differentiate men from women in performance but both require engagement to continue online

learning.

Garrison, Anderson and Archers (2000) model of Community of Inquiry (CoI) noted that

an online course required three aspects to encourage deeper and meaningful learning: cognitive

presence, social presence, and teacher presence. This research proposal focuses not only on the

academic performance differences between genders but also the aspect of engagement through

cognitive presence. Cognitive presence looks at creating meaning from learning where students

might apply new ideas or develop connections (Garrison et al., 2000). Quantitative measures can

be used to make connections between applied learning and cognitive presence in terms of

grading, but self-reporting through journals is useful to determine engagement levels (Akyol &

Garrison, 2011).

Other studies have found similar notions that students need to feel satisfied with the

course in order to engage and motivate themselves to complete the course (Park & Choi, 2009).

Yoo and Huang (2013) found engaging adult learners in an online environment becomes more

difficult and through a quantitative survey study using a Likert scale, found adults need to be

able to apply learning in order to have greater motivation and engagement. The CoI framework

has been used effectively to determine the relationship between the three categories (Garrison,

Cleveland-Innes, & Fung, 2010). Combining these elements into a research study requires the

right tools and instruments.

Similar to Akyol and Garrisons (2011) study, our research proposes to use a mixed

methods study to determine differences observed between the genders in academic achievement

in addition to self-reporting measures to assess engagement. Isik et al. (2010) used a

 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 6

questionnaire with a Likert Scale to measure engagement but Martinez, Liu, Watson and

Bichelmeyer (2006) employed interviews in addition to an online survey to develop a fuller

picture in academic success online. In the interest of time, we will not pursue the additional

interviews. Demographic surveys will help identify categorical differences. This research

proposal suggests the need to employ an explanatory sequential design. The plan is to use

statistical analysis and descriptive statistics on the academic achievement scores between both

genders, a questionnaire using a Likert Scale to measure cognitive presence for engagement, a

demographic survey, and pre and post reflections.

Description of methods

Research participants

The participants for this study will be chosen from Athabasca University, a known

Canadian leader in online instruction and distance education. All participants will be either part-

time or full-time students taking courses towards an online Master's or Doctoral program that

are registered in September 2016 regardless of the point of where they are in their studies. Once

acquiring the email addresses of all students that fit the criteria an informational email will be

sent to all possible participants explaining the details of the study including the timeline and the

different levels of involvement the participants may partake in. The email will inform students

that their responses in all or any aspects of the study will be kept confidential and only reported

as group data. A reply to the first informational email by submitting responses to the

demographical survey will provide their consent to participate until further consent is required.

The email will inform participants that their participation is voluntary and if they are not

interested in taking part in any form they may disregard the email. Furthermore, the participants

will have the option to withdraw from the study at any point without being penalized in any way.
 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 7

Research design

This study will be conducted using an explanatory mixed method design. Initially,

qualitative data will be analysed for exploratory and broad results which will provide the basis

for the second phase of quantitative data analysis to build on the initial results in a numerically

systematic way.

Instrumentation

To facilitate the mixed-methods research various data collection techniques and

instruments will be used. This study will adopt from the Community of Inquiry Survey

Instrument (Ice, Arbaugh, Diaz, Garrison, Richardson, Shea, & Swan, 2007) to collect data on

only cognitive presence. The questionnaire will be 12 questions in length and use a 5 point Likert

scale where 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. The 12 questions will be based on the four

categories of cognitive presence (Trigger Events, Exploration, Integration, and Resolution).

A short 6 question survey will be created to collect demographic information such as

gender, full or part time status, age, marital status, years of experience in online education, and

what graduate program they are enrolled in (Masters or Doctoral Program).

The last instrument this study will use will be pre, during, and post reflections from

participating students. The students will be required to give reflective responses to the question:

How do you view the extent to which you are able to construct meaning through sustained

communication in your online course? Please provide specific examples. This should

provide depth and detailed description of engagement levels from students perspectives.
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Description of data sources

Data Sources

Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected from the participants of Athabasca

University. Qualitative data will be descriptive and narrative in nature and come from the pre,

during, and post reflections. The quantitative data will be numerical in nature and come from the

adopted CoI instrument, demographic survey, and the final grades.

Data Collection Procedures

The initial informational email will be sent to all possible participants in late August 2016

prior to the start of their semester. All interested participants who reply with responses to the

demographical survey will be sent corresponding emails to inform them of and collect the pre,

during, and post reflection responses in September 2016, late October 2016, and December 2016

respectively. The adapted CoI questionnaire will be sent as a link in an email in December 2016.

The questionnaire will be open for three weeks with reminder emails being sent as each

week passes. The last data that will be collected to measure gender differences in achievement

will be the final grades in the courses once teachers have calculated them.

Data analysis

All qualitative data will be analyzed inductively and to reduce the massive amounts of

descriptive data, a coding scheme will group data into four categories, one for each element of

cognitive presence. Transcript analysis will then be applied to investigate how each element of

cognitive presence differs between the genders. Transcript analysis explores and analyzes

patterns and inferences from the descriptive data from the reflections to the context setting of

learning in an online environment.

 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 9

All quantitative data including the adapted CoI instrument, demographic survey, and final

marks will be handled with statistical analysis and descriptive statistics. All data analyses will be

carried out with the 2015 version of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, IBM SPSS

Statistics. Initial data analyses will include means, modes, and standard deviations. To measure

relationships between achievement and gender, an independent sample t-test will be used; the

final scores will be compared against two groups, male and female. To measure relationships

between engagement and gender the appropriate variations of analysis of variances will be used

(Ice et al., 2007).

Results and conclusion

The final results will of course remain unclear until the proposed study is actually

executed. This would be a mixed-methods approach and much of the qualitative data would be

gathered first followed by the gathering of quantitative data. However, data gathered via both

methods will be given emphasis and priority. We will seek to house our data and results within

the context of previously conducted studies. This study would involve four researchers and as

such, we will need to be aware of, guard against, and document any sources of investigator bias

that could influence or skew interpretation of findings. We will need to keep in mind that some

data and results could be due to variables that are specific to Athabasca University and thus may

not factor toward gender differences at other Universities. It is also important to note that, the

chosen site for the study (Athabasca University) is a documented leader in Canada in the

delivery of online and distance education and this fact could influence the results. This will need

to be taken into consideration during data analysis. Overall, this research endeavour would serve

as an additional study in a growing number of studies exploring the value of examining gender

differences in online and distance education.

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Educational significance

It is imperative for higher education institutions to create online learning environments

that provide engaging, effective, and meaningful opportunities for knowledge collection and

distribution. As more and more universities are offering fully online postgraduate research

degrees to increase their market share for global students, those universities that resist change

will find it difficult to increase or maintain their student enrolments, revenue from courses, and

standings in national and worldwide university ranking systems. For universities that are

evolving to adapt to this change, they must understand that it is not a simple matter of directing

funds to build an online presence. To be effective, they need to understand the different needs

and wants of online students as compared to students in the traditional classroom setting. To be

attractive and successful, they need to understand the different challenges faced by male and

female learners in their pursuit for higher education and provide solutions catering toward both

genders thereby making for all encompassing success in learning.

 GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS 11

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